Page 39 of Rescuing Sophia

“Yes, he did. Texted me, too. Told me to show you everything.” She wraps an arm around my shoulders. “Come on, let me show you the cool stuff.”

She leads us down a corridor, chattering a mile a minute. We stop at a large room filled with strange equipment. Hexagonalplatforms cover the floor, each with a harness and headset dangling above it.

“What is this?” I stare at the room, confused by what I see.

“This is our VR suite,” Mitzy announces proudly. “State-of-the-art training simulations. It’s Forest’s love child. He’s a freak when it comes to VR, and we’re finding all kinds of new applications every day.”

“How do they work?” I step closer, examining the sleek headsets.

“Put one on and find out.” Mitzy’s grin widens.

With trepidation, I slip the headset over my eyes after Mitzy gives me a brief ‘how-to.’ Instantly, the world around me disappears, replaced by a startlingly realistic cityscape. I take a hesitant step forward, and the platform beneath me moves, allowing me to “walk” through the virtual environment.

“This is incredible.” I turn in a slow circle. “How do you make it so realistic?”

“We use schematics when we can.” Mitzy’s voice comes through the headset’s speakers. “For places we can’t access or don’t have the architectural schematics for, we send in our bumblebee drones to map everything out.”

“Bumblebee drones?” I remove the headset, blinking as my eyes readjust.

“Oh, you’ve got to see these.” Mitzy practically vibrates with excitement. She leads us to another lab, this one buzzing—literally—with activity. “They’re great for getting covert intel on the ground. No one pays attention to bugs. Beyond that, we’ve found applications for them in search and rescue.”

“Search and rescue?”

“Oh yes, we just used them recently for one of our own. Bumblebees can search debris better than humans. They can move through the tiniest openings, locate survivors, and radio back to rescuers. We’ve already put them into production in the civilian sector specifically for that.”

Tiny, insect-like drones flit about the room. Some are no bigger than my thumbnail, while others are the size of my palm.

“Look. This is one of our bumblebees.” Mitzy holds out herhand. A tiny black bumblebee drone lands on her palm. “Perfect for recon and surveillance.”

“And the bigger ones?” I lean in, marveling at the intricate design.

“The dragonflies are a bit bigger. They can operate autonomously or with the help of a human. We developed them first but are finding the hive is superior.”

“Hive?”

“Bumblebees come in hives.” She doesn’t provide any further explanation, and before I can ask, she flits over to a four-legged robot that looks like a large dog or a small sheep. “This is one of our greatest successes: RUFUS.”

“RUFUS?”

“Robotic Ultra Functional Utility Specialists.” Carter supplies. “They work with the Guardian teams.”

Between Mitzy and Carter, I learn more about robots than I ever knew or wanted to know. However, I catalog and memorize everything… for later.

As we move through the building, I take in every detail. The layout, the security measures, the glimpses of restricted areas behind frosted glass. My heart races with a mixture of genuine fascination and calculated observation.

We pass by another lab, this one filled with rows of computers. A woman looks up as we enter.

“Hey, Mitzy, what’s up?” A striking woman with flowing, jet-black hair that cascades down her back in glossy waves, her beautiful eyes, dark and expressive, draw me in with their captivating depth.

“This is our cryptology division,” Mitzy announces. “And this is Jinx. Jinx, meet Sophia, Jenna, and Carter. Carter’s new to the Guardians, assigned as Jenna’s Protector, but he comes to us with a strong background as a detective.”

“Nice to meet you.” She shakes our hands while complex algorithms scroll across her screen before we move on.

Max pads along silently throughout the tour, his watchful gaze never wavering. Carter and Jenna exchange occasional glances, theirfingers intertwined. A pang of envy and longing tugs at me, stirred by their easy intimacy.

As we near the end of the tour, guilt gnaws at me. These people have been nothing but kind. Mitzy’s enthusiasm is infectious, Carter’s quiet strength reassuring, and Jenna’s warmth inviting.

For a moment, I imagine what belonging here might be like. It’s easier to think about that than the reality ahead of me.

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